Seven Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Ok so I have a 9 1/2 week old Lab that sits, stays for about 10 seconds, lay downs on command and still learning come, but improving. Yet the biting or nipping is getting worse than it did in the first week home and I find it is more so during training / playtime with him. Currently if he bites we make a barky arrrh followed by "No" which works to a point. But during those over excited times he is not listening. Is there any tips or is this just a normal puppy? Oh and the grabbing of the lead in his mouth is annoying :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs tornsocks Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Ok so I have a 9 1/2 week old Lab that sits, stays for about 10 seconds, lay downs on command and still learning come, but improving.Yet the biting or nipping is getting worse than it did in the first week home and I find it is more so during training / playtime with him. Currently if he bites we make a barky arrrh followed by "No" which works to a point. But during those over excited times he is not listening. Is there any tips or is this just a normal puppy? Oh and the grabbing of the lead in his mouth is annoying Hi Seven, know you posted in labs but short answer is ... normal puppy. And even more normal lab puppy. Retrievers are notoriously 'mouthy' dogs and puppies 'discover' stuff via their mouths. This is a sometimes lethal combo. We had massive problems with our first lab pup, not so much on our current boy. Have a search through and you'll find quite a few threads but I'll go have a look as well at some of our old posts. It WILL get better. Give him something else to shove in his mouth besides your hand, toy etc. Give him a time out if he's not listenting during excitement. You basically need to tell him that it's not a game, and if that means excluding him from the 'game', so be it. Put him in an another room, even for 30 seconds or 1 minute til he calms. We used to put our boy in the toilet for 1 minute, nothing to do, no-one to play with, no fun. Calms down, nipping calms down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 It's definitely hard for puppies when they are extremely excited. I find the best thing with Erik when he is like that is to be proactive. If I ask for a sit just before he goes to bite me he'll plant his butt and I've got a few seconds to get my hands on something he can bite. If I don't have anything handy I just haveta walk reeeeeeally slowly or ask for Erik to watch me. It's better than shrieking every time his teeth touch me. He's not too bad with his bite inhibition, but if he's super excited he'll hurt me if I use that method before he reigns himself in and finds something else to bite. When Erik is all excited, every time he bites my ankle his excitement is maintained and he'll keep trying to bite my ankle. But if I can divert him before he bites my ankle to biting something that doesn't hurt, we're all happy and he calms down much faster. And my ankles stay safe. Anyway, long story short, I find a rock solid sit to be ever so useful with puppies. Erik is expected to sit whenever he wants something. Anything at all. If he wants something from us, he must put his rear on the ground and keep his mouth shut. He is remarkably good at this for an excitable puppy, now. Remember, there's a point where a dog will be so excited that they can't really hear you. It's not that they aren't listening to you. They genuinely don't hear you. If that's the case, you're better off putting pup in a crate or something until he settles down. Dried pigs ears or snouts are good for calming down over excited puppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs tornsocks Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Anyway, long story short, I find a rock solid sit to be ever so useful with puppies. Erik is expected to sit whenever he wants something. Anything at all. If he wants something from us, he must put his rear on the ground and keep his mouth shut. He is remarkably good at this for an excitable puppy, now. totally concur on this too corvus. sit is our default command - and we use it now on walks etc. to settle him if he gets excited by approaching people and dogs. He's pretty much over the excitment of approaching people, although his tail wags like crazy and if they excite him, he tries to jump up ... and the approaching doggies are a work in progress. Bottom line (scuse the pun), as soon as I see potential excitement, he gets the sit command, and sits immediately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 one quick and easy lesson when he nips put your thumb under the tongue and apply a gentle pressure until he gives in and whines then walk off and ignore. When he is gentle remember to praise a lot, but in the mean time he needs to learn. Nipping = excitement = not listening and more noise tends to add to it. A nice physical reminder of 'this is wrong and should never happen again' is the easiest way and should be nipped in the bud ASAP. As for the leash just rub a little chilli sauce on it and ignore it completely, it will stop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvsdogs Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 http://www.dogstardaily.com/videos/puppy-biting http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/puppy-biting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seven Posted October 25, 2009 Author Share Posted October 25, 2009 Thanks everyone for the replys and I enjoyed the links as well. I never thought to teach him first how hard he should bite and it is amazing how quickly he learnt. He still is trying to get away with things, but have noticed he is listening more now and is settling down alot quicker. Since teaching him not to bite as hard it is a lot easier to teach him when not to bite as well. Mind you it is all a work in progress and I am just being a nagging dad at the moment. Even the grabbing the lead is not as bad now and I only have to tell him when he forgets. I think the thing I mainly was doing wrong seemed to be not being firm enough and the listening to my commands when excited is a remarkable improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seven Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 Maybe getting a little ahead of myself in the previous post. Got bit fairly hard last night and have a cut to prove it with lots of blood. I think my finger got caught in his pointy sharp teeth and yes he was a bit excited at the time. Oh well back to teaching him again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Sounds like a little cracker of a pup, learn how to turn the excitement on and off, it will make everything else easier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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